A number of measures aimed at creating a secure and solid financial sector on the European internal market were developed in the aftermath of the financial crisis that broke out in 2008. These measures have been combined and standardised within the Single Rulebook.

The Single Rulebook harmonises European banking supervision law and is applicable in all 28 EU member states. It comprises various laws and regulations and includes strict supervisory requirements for banks, strengthened investor protection and preventive measures and tools for the resolution of struggling banks.

The key elements of the Single Rulebook are:

• the CRR (Capital Requirements Regulation) and the CRD IV (Capital Requirements Directive IV)
• in the future, for instance, the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD) and the recast Deposit Guarantee Schemes Directive (DGSD)
• the regulatory technical and implementing standards the European Commission has issued or will issue on this basis
• the guidelines and/or recommendations of the European Banking Authority.

If there is a need for further interpretation of the CRR or the technical standards which substantiate its requirements, the relevant enquiries are addressed to the EBA within the so-called Q&A process. In order to structure the process at a national level, the institutions should address such enquiries to BaFin or the Bundesbank first.

BaFin’s administrative practice

BaFin intends to use the final versions of the decisions made by both the EBA and European Commission in the course of the Single Rulebook Q&A process which have been published on the EBA website as the basis for its CRR administrative practice. Nevertheless, the EBA does not regard these decisions as directly binding. Therefore, BaFin will in every case explicitly state that a decision published within the Q&A process is part of its CRR administrative practice in order to ensure legal certainty for the institutions.